TIL the famous sound of dial-up is the “handshake” between the modem and the Internet Service Provider before translating internet data into soundwaves.

4 Comments

1. Back in the day of 300 baud modems, you could hear if it was going to be a successful handshake before the computer connected.

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2. That sound used to excite me so much knowing I was so close to being connected to the world

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3. Here’s what the handshake looks like: https://oona.windytan.com/posters/dialup-final.png

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4. Back when AOL ruled online but you had to dial through 20 minutes of busy signals

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